Police recorded 273 crimes in central Banbury in September, the fewest since February 2025, and violent crime fell to 97. Bicester rose 14% over the year.
Police recorded 273 crimes within a mile of central Banbury in September 2026, the fewest in any month since February 2025. Violent and sexual offences fell to 97, the lowest monthly figure in the two years of data we checked.
Anti-social behaviour reports also dropped back, from 57 in August to 33. Over the full year, recorded crime in central Banbury fell by 3%.
Bicester is moving the other way. Crime within a mile of its town centre rose 14% over the same 12 months, driven by shoplifting.
The figures are the street-level data Thames Valley Police supplies to police.uk. We downloaded them through the data.police.uk API on 8 November. September 2026 is the latest month published.
The month in numbers
September’s 273 crimes compare with 358 in August and 314 in September 2025.
| Type of crime | September 2025 | September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 153 | 97 |
| Shoplifting | 23 | 36 |
| Anti-social behaviour | 28 | 33 |
| Public order | 33 | 24 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 20 | 23 |
| Drugs | 14 | 18 |
| Other theft | 12 | 13 |
| Robbery | 5 | 10 |
| Other types (six categories) | 26 | 19 |
| All crime | 314 | 273 |
The fall in violent crime accounts for almost all of the drop. September’s 97 reports were down from 117 in August and 147 in July. The previous low in our data was 108, in January 2025.
Shoplifting eased from 52 in each of July and August to 36. That is still higher than September 2025, when 23 were recorded.
The year in Banbury
One month is a noisy measure, so we also compared the 12 months to September 2026 with the 12 months before. Both use the same one-mile circle around the town centre.
| Type of crime | Oct 2024 to Sep 2025 | Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All crime | 4,027 | 3,906 | down 3% |
| Violence and sexual offences | 1,646 | 1,493 | down 9% |
| Shoplifting | 474 | 476 | no change |
| Anti-social behaviour | 370 | 440 | up 19% |
| Public order | 431 | 390 | down 10% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 322 | 296 | down 8% |
| Other theft | 166 | 222 | up 34% |
| Burglary | 89 | 116 | up 30% |
| Vehicle crime | 151 | 98 | down 35% |
| Robbery | 35 | 60 | up 71% |
| Bicycle theft | 35 | 49 | up 40% |
The picture matches last month’s. Violence, public order offences and vehicle crime are down. Anti-social behaviour, theft, burglary and robbery are up.
Robbery numbers are small, so a handful of incidents moves the percentage a long way. Even so, 60 in a year against 35 is a real change.
Of September’s 273 Banbury crimes, police.uk lists 145 as still under investigation and 55 as closed with no suspect identified.
Bicester: up 14% in a year
We ran the same check for a one-mile circle around Bicester town centre, which takes in Bicester Village. Recorded crime there rose from 2,721 to 3,115 over the same two periods.
The biggest movements were:
- shoplifting up 21%, from 755 to 915
- violence and sexual offences up 11%, from 910 to 1,009
- anti-social behaviour up 21%, from 179 to 216
- bicycle theft up from 46 to 70
- robbery doubled, from 22 to 44
Bicester’s September total was 235, up from 203 a year earlier. Its 71 shoplifting reports were almost double Banbury’s 36, and over the year Bicester recorded 915 shoplifting offences to Banbury’s 476.
How to read these figures
- The counts are crimes reported to and recorded by police, not every crime committed. A change can reflect more reporting, or a recording change, as well as more offending.
- Police.uk places each crime at an anonymised map point near where it happened, so a one-mile circle is approximate at its edges.
- Monthly totals can be revised. August’s Banbury total was still 358 when we downloaded it again this month, the same as in our August report.
- Anti-social behaviour is recorded as an incident type, not a crime, but police.uk counts it alongside crime.
What it means for you
- Report anti-social behaviour and non-emergency crime to Thames Valley Police online or on 101. Call 999 if someone is in danger or a crime is happening now.
- Shops can report shoplifting online too. Thefts that are never reported do not appear in these figures.
- Your own street’s figures are on police.uk. Enter a postcode to see the local map and contact your neighbourhood team.
We update these figures each month when police.uk publishes them. October’s are due in December.
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